Calling itself the “Armed Men of the Muslim Brotherhood”, the militia has a presence in Damascus as well as opposition hot spots like Homs and Idlib. One of their organisers, who called himself Abu Hamza, said that he started the movement along with a member of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the opposition alliance.

“We saw there were civilians with weapons inside, so we decided to co-operate with them and put them under one umbrella,” he said.

Hossam Abu Habel, whose late father was in Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s, said that he raised $40-50,000 (£25,000-£32,000) a month to supply Islamist militias in Homs province with weapons and other aid.

The militias he funded were not affiliated to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the main rebel movement, added Mr Abu Habel.

“Our mission is to build a civil country but with an Islamic base,” he said. “We are trying to raise awareness for Islam and for jihad.”

The Syrian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood has been revitalised by the organisation’s success in Egypt, where it won both parliamentary and presidential elections.

In the early days of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, secular and Islamist rebels were both prepared to fight under the FSA’s banner and recognise the SNC as their political masters.

But the FSA, dominated by defectors from the regime’s army, has fallen out with the SNC, whose leaders are in exile. It now has its own political front, the Syrian Support Group (SSG). This split has divided the revolution’s main international backers, with Saudi Arabia supporting the FSA and Qatar moving closer to the SNC and the Islamist militias.

The divisions are affecting operations on the ground: competing militias co-operate when necessary but otherwise disavow each other. “I would take it as an insult if you described me as FSA,” said Abu Bakri, a front line commander of an Islamist militia in Aleppo calling itself the Abu Emara Battalion.

One activist described how he was working with Sunni politicians in Lebanon to buy arms for the FSA with Saudi money.

A member of the FSA command centre, located in neighbouring Turkey, told the Daily Telegraph that they have this week received large consignments of ammunition, machine guns and anti-tank missiles. At one point Saudi Arabia and Qatar were both funding the FSA, with the command centre receiving up to $3 million in cash every month. But the operative said the situation had changed.

“Now we are not working with the Qataris because they made so many mistakes supporting other groups.”

If they aren’t working with the Qataris that leaves the Saudis, the Turks and most likely plundered U.S. taxpayers by way of the CIA and corrupt U.S. officials. And more reason why immigration of those with loyalties to Islam and sharia must be completely halted and the U.S. should not interfere in the internal affairs of these countries:

Amr al-Azm, a Syrian-American academic who was briefly on the SNC, said that Syria risked the same kind of disintegration that was set in motion by Saddam Hussein’s downfall in neighbouring Iraq. The West’s decision to limit its involvement in the Syrian conflict – and refrain from supplying lethal weapons – had left a gap for the Islamists to fill.

“By playing to your own fears, you are making them come true,” said Mr Azm. “By not intervening, you are forcing people to go those who have resources. No one wants to go to al-Qaeda, but if you are down to your last five bullets and someone asks you to say ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is greatest) five times, you do it.”

Help us or we’ll become al Qaeda!Either way, we lose so let them focus on fighting and killing each other. Terrorism, whether by academics or fighters is still terrorism.

10 Responses

here we are now;we are contagious;let’s get down now;take over in stages;we need weapons;like some SARIN;we need mustard gas on our sandwich………we need anthrax in our capitol;we need capital for our anthrax……..we are spreading ;we are multiplying;we dividing we are conquering;we are BORG;YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED.

Here’s a suggestion; have congress pass a law requiring all educational institutions receiving federal funds or contracts develop a document international students are required to sign denouncing terrorist activities. It would list those entities known to be actively engaged in funding, staffing and supporting terrorism. The penalty could be expulsion from the U.S. and listing on the international no-fly list.

You are right insofar as it will be individual citizens, sometimes armed, who will stem the tide of muslimite conquest by COLONIZATION. As many as thirty years ago, African demographics would greatly influence European culture. I am a army vet. So is my son. My son in law is a budding shooter. I also have five granddaughters, three of whom are moslem-marriageable ( 5 + years)

My son is a wounded Iraq vet. He taught me to shoot before he left for Iraq and i got my permit then. He taught his 2 younger brothers now 24 and 21 and his little sister, now 15, who is probably past muslim marrying age, to shoot.Their Dad is a Iraq vet too.My son who is the veteran has 3 year old identical twin daughters born a few minutes after the 4th of July, on July 5th. I have a grandson who is 5 months older than the twins (3 1/2 yrs) and another grandchild on the way. I want them to know a free America my son fought for. We all will fight for this country and I WILL KILL BEYOND DEAD FOR MY CHILDREN and GRANDCHILDREN….and that is going to be required of all of us whether most have a clue or not.